Bowlers Journal International - November 2008 - (Page 34) Inside Line News, Notes And Perspective Ladewig? Patty Costello? Lisa Wagner? Aleta Sill? Carolyn Dorin-Ballard? The focus now arguably has to include Macpherson. It is ironic, in a way. Bowling’s first big female star (early in the last century) was Floretta McCutcheon, who became widely hailed as “Mrs. Mac” following her much ballyhooed win over then “world’s match game champion” Jimmy Smith in a 1927 match in Pueblo, Colo. Now, “Lady Mac” provides women’s bowling with its latest “Mac Attack” via this newest honor. On at least one level, being proclaimed captain of the All-Time Women’s AllAmerican Team provides an extra insight into the extent of Macpherson’s talent, especially from a long-term perspective. In contrast, she already has been declared the best of a 10-year period with her Bowler of the Decade honor. However, it took 11 years of sustained excellence to captain the All-Time All-Americans of her gender. Pundits were stunned a few years ago when Macpherson was passed over as one of the competitors for the USBC Women’s Challenge. Now? We propose that would happen again only if the event were willing to totally sacrifice its integrity as a serious tournament competition. Sustained excellence is an even bigger key on the men’s side of the equation. It explains Williams’ commanding position atop this special career list, to be sure. It also puts this list in context as to why Mark Roth — recently profiled in BJI as having had the best single PBA season — is M.I.A. from the elite squad. Roth may well have been the definition of Par Excellence in 1978 (though, upon further reflection, Bob Johnson discovered a new #1 selection in his “Strikes Me” column). But the fact is that, as a 7-time All-American, Roth finished in a tie for 11th place (with Billy Welu and Paul Krumske), just out of Second Team status. Williams also has a defining year on his resumé. He’s just had so many others to go along with it. WRW’s career, by any measure, is unusual. He rose to First Team honors in 1985-86, and remained an All-American for two straight seasons afterward. However, he missed the honors for the next four ously didn’t hurt my game. I attribute it more to the oiling patterns and the reactive resin; it just sort of clicked for me and I started winning on TV. I think I made 15 TV finals, and had seven wins. That’s pretty remarkable.” “Remarkable” is probably the best way to describe the entire elite squad of All-Timers. Among WRW, Anthony, Carter and the two Webers, the men have 40 “majors.” Carter leads the way in that category with 11 megacrowns, while Anthony is second with 10. And not counting the years when the Player and Bowler of the Year awards overlapped, they were declared the nation’s top keglers 21 times. Carter, Anthony and Williams tied with six of those designa- with Macpherson and Lisa Wagner leading the way among the First Teamers with four of those designations (not to be outdone, Adamek also had a quartet). “Wendy Mac” recently was struck by the longevity of her career. “I never thought in terms of how long I’ve been doing this,” she said after returning from her latest trip to Japan, “but it just hit me how fast time has flown, and how great my opportunities were. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. “We may no longer have a regular Tour, and only have a few chances to prove ourselves, but we still have an opportunity to make BJ’s AllAmerican team, and that’s always been one of my number one goals. It’s something all THOSE ON THE MEN’S ELITE SQUAD WERE DECLARED BOWLER/PLAYER OF THE YEAR 21 TIMES, AN HONOR WHICH, INCREDIBLY, PETE WEBER HAS NEVER WON. chronological periods. When he re-emerged among the elite in 1992-93, he did so with a vengeance; he scored top honors for 11 straight seasons through 2003-04. He just missed tying Anthony, who distinguished himself for 12 straight seasons, which still is a record. Williams’ latest BJI appearances came in 2005-06 and 2007-08, which put him in the rarified air of beating his own record each time. “My lean years were probably ’89 and ’90,” WRW admitted in a BJI interview earlier this year. “Then I made seven TV finals [in 1991]. Everybody attributes it to reactive resin, which obvitions while, incredibly, young Weber has been shut out in that department. On the women’s side of the ledger, the First Team of All-Timers own 13 majors, of which Macpherson has earned a half-dozen. She is tied with second teamer Donna Adamek in that regard. Incredibly, Adamek had a much shorter career, and was phasing out her competitive years just as Macpherson was phasing in. In fact, the only time the two shared a top All-American berth was 1990-91, a season before Adamek would call it quits. As for Bowler and Player of the Year awards, the ladies were so recognized 14 times, of us strived for on the Tour.” Macpherson turned 40 in January, and turned a bit reflective when we talked to her. “I’ve always said the day I quit is the day I can no longer win, or no longer enjoy it,” she said. WRW was in a similar mood. “My plan is to bowl out here as long as I’m competitive,” Williams told BJI in January. “I think I can do that for a few more years. As long as I feel competitive, I’m probably going to keep doing it… including the Senior events, where there isn’t a lot of money. After all, I still play horseshoe tournaments, even though there’s no money in that.” 34 Bowlers Journal International | November 2008 www.bowlersjournal.com http://www.bowlersjournal.com
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